Misheel walked down the halls of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® sporting a bright smile as she carried a bag bursting with colorful balloon figures that she created to distribute to other patients, doctors and nurses.
Despite her own battle with brain cancer, Misheel, 11, has refused to let her illness keep her from spreading joy to others. “She is trying her best to show kids that things can happen, but there are always good ways to go through it,” said her mother, Undrakh.
Misheel was diagnosed in July of 2023 after experiencing several months of insatiable thirst and repeated visits to the bathroom, her mother said. “She wasn’t sleeping well during the night; she was so tired during the day,” she recalled.
A doctor’s visit and tests revealed tumors in her brain. Undrakh, who was born in Mongolia, said she couldn’t believe it. “In my country, people die from cancer,” she said. “Cancer was a really hard word to hear.”
Misheel was referred to St. Jude, where she has received treatment. “St. Jude means a lot to us, it has become a loving family,” said Undrakh, who said she was a St. Jude monthly donor prior to her daughter’s diagnosis.
Since she became a patient of St. Jude, Misheel not only learned to master balloon twisting, but now is learning, with the help of YouTube, to be a ventriloquist. Misheel, though, aspires to be a doctor or a nurse, just like those at St. Jude.
